CROSS KEYS - A real estate agent has found a buyer for Hollidaysburg Area School District's Allegheny No. 1 Elementary School building.
"We should have it sold within two months," Howard Hanna Johnston Realty Owner Richard Johnston said.
The district must acquire a second appraisal, and the transaction must be court approved.
Johnston, who was hired by the school board about three weeks ago, said the potential buyer, who expressed interest last week, plans to renovate the school into apartments.
"We have someone who wants to develop it for residential purposes. And that's good for the district, to put that property back on the tax rolls," Johnston said.
The school board voted in May to close Allegheny No. 1 at the end of the 2011-12 school year.
The school, built in 1954, would have needed about $3 million to $5 million in renovations including plumbing, electrical and roofing improvements to pass building codes, board members said.
The district declined to disclose the appraised value of the building.
"They are doing their due diligence," Johnston said.
Information available on the district website since the board began considering closing the school stated that average class sizes in third through sixth grades would be about 24 students with the influx of Allegheny No. 1 students to Foot of Ten and Charles W. Longer elementary schools.
Board member Troy Keefer asked during a board meeting earlier this year whether Principal Tim Gildea experienced problems with having 28 to 29 students in some classes.
"It's not an unusual situation [compared with years past]," Gildea said. "I was curious, so I pulled out some old yearbooks. You don't have to go back far to find some of those numbers over the years. We have support staff working. We think we are providing a pretty solid education."
Longer received 160 kids from Allegheny No. 1, and Foot of Ten Principal Francine Endler said the school received 65 former Allegheny No. 1 students who have been "Jumping right in."
The school board is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Nov. 21 in the senior high school library.
